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Bullish files for IPO in the U.S.

Web3 & Enterprise·June 12, 2025, 6:05 AM

Digital asset exchange business Bullish has filed confidentially for an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States.

 

The Financial Times reported on June 11 that the IPO had been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in recent weeks. Choosing to file the IPO confidentially will have enabled the firm to delay public disclosure, allowing it to progress with its preparation for the IPO and reveal financials closer to the point at which it goes public.

 

Back in February, Bloomberg reported that the company was looking at the possibility of executing an IPO, with investment banking and financial services firm Jefferies understood to have been advising the firm. This latest report confirms that Jefferies will work as the lead underwriter in relation to the IPO deal.

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Hong Kong ties

Bullish is a subsidiary company of Block.one, a blockchain software company founded by Brendan Blumer and Dan Larimer, best known for having established the EOS.IO blockchain network. Both companies have strong ties with Hong Kong. 

 

The Bullish exchange is licensed by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). It has also obtained licensing from the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC) and the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). 

 

The exchange business is jointly operated by corporate entities registered in Hong Kong and Gibraltar. The company maintains offices in Hong Kong, Gibraltar, Singapore, New York, London, Frankfurt and the Cayman Islands. 

 

The business is also being backed by Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li and American entrepreneur Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies and Founders Fund.

 

Blumer, who is based in Hong Kong, founded Bullish in 2021 and currently serves as Bullish chairman. The company is understood to have in the region of 275 employees with Tom Farley leading it as CEO. Farley previously fulfilled the role of president at Intercontinental Exchange’s NYSE group.

 

Positive climate for crypto IPOs

Amid a more positive crypto climate in the United States, crypto-related IPOs appear to be back in favor. Leading stablecoin issuer Circle executed an IPO earlier this month with the offering being 25x oversubscribed.

 

Following the success of the Circle IPO, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes asserted on X that it would lead to a plethora of crypto-related IPOs over the next few years. He likened that anticipated wave of IPOs to the flurry of initial coin offerings (ICOs) that occurred back in 2017.

 

Earlier this month American crypto exchange platform Gemini confidentially filed for an IPO in the U.S. A Bloomberg report published in March suggested that rival exchange business Kraken is planning an IPO for Q1 2026. 

 

There has been some speculation that Ripple, the American technology company that developed and supports XRP and the XRP Ledger (XRPL), may be a prime candidate for an IPO. Taking to the X social media platform, “Pentoshi,” a pseudonymous crypto market analyst with over 860,000 followers on X, said that a Ripple IPO “feels only logical.” The analyst added that if the company executed an IPO, it would likely weigh in at “some insanely stupid valuation.”

 

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